Former Super Eagles winger Emmanuel Amunike pointed out that he achieved a lifelong dream when he joined Barcelona.
After a fantastic two-year spell with Sporting CP, where he scored 17 times in 51 matches, Amunike made the switch to Barcelona in 1996. In four years with the Catalan giants, he played just 19 times, scoring once.
To be fair, his lack of playing time was due to injuries. That said, Amunike won the Copa del Rey title with Barcelona in his first season with the club. In an interview with Tribal Football, Amunike said:
“Joining Barcelona was like a dream coming true. Every player or young player wants to play for a big team. Nowadays the situation has changed because young players only want to play for a big team but for me, it's important to play where you can have continuity and grow as a player.”
“Of course, still, teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, etc have that appeal where everybody wants to go and play.” Amunike continued. “My experience at Barcelona was good. Coming from Portugal to Spain it was a big step for me, but unfortunately injuries began to happen a lot. When these injuries occur you cannot give 100% as you are not in shape.”
We would like to point out that Amunike was a part of Clemens Westerhof's 1994 Africa Cup of Nations title-winning team. As a matter of fact, 94 was arguably the best year of his career. The ex-Super Eagles star earned the African best player award, due to some solid performances for Nigeria, Al Ahly and Sporting CP.
Furthermore, Amunike won Olympic gold for his country in 1996, as well as the BBC African footballer of the year award. He just turned 53 earlier this week.
